


Home’s a Lie (But We Don’t Have to Be)

by questionmark007



Series: Meals & Feels [1]
Category: High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (TV)
Genre: Bisexual Ricky Bowen (HSM: The Series), Disney songs are sung, EJ's love language is food, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Idiots in Love, Lynne is a meanie face, M/M, Mike Bowen is a good dad, Mild Language, Ricky Bowen Needs A Hug (HSM: The Series), Ricky has good friends, himbo original character, mild homophobia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-18
Updated: 2020-05-20
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:13:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 20,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24257194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/questionmark007/pseuds/questionmark007
Summary: “I mean, I’m bringing you, my ex-girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend, as my boyfriend to help me piss off my mom’s homophobic boyfriend at the dinner celebrating her divorce from my dad, who will also be there, so I’m not really sure what I’d consider to be off-limits?” Ricky noted. “What about you?”EJ snorted. "Fair enough."--Or, Ricky needs a fake boyfriend for a family dinner and EJ volunteers.
Relationships: Ricky Bowen/E.J. Caswell
Series: Meals & Feels [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1762534
Comments: 50
Kudos: 321





	1. Part 1 - The Set-Up

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to write a longer fic - my goal was 12k words... this comes in at just over 20k so I'd call it a success! I had a lot of fun with it and I hope you enjoy reading it!!

“A divorce dinner?” Ricky asked, his spoon midair between his mouth and cereal bowl. “What even is that?”

“Yeah,” Mike Bowen sighed, leaning against the kitchen counter. “To celebrate the divorce being finalized, and to give you and Todd a chance to get to know each other. Your mom thinks it’d be a good idea for the four of us to have dinner together on Thursday.”

“That’s weird.” Ricky told him.

“It is.” Mike allowed. “But it’s also been a while since you’ve seen your mom and she’s just in town for the weekend.”

“We’re already going out to dinner after the musical on Friday.” Ricky pointed out. “Why do we need two dinners? Why do we need to celebrate the divorce?” Ricky understood his parents splitting up was what was best for the both of them but having a dinner to celebrate it with his mom, her boyfriend, and his dad felt wrong.

“Honestly, Ricky, I don’t know.” His dad shook his head. “But she wants to see you as much as she can before she leaves and I’m trying to be accommodating.”

“She wouldn’t have to try so hard if she just lived here.” Ricky muttered, shoveling more cereal into his mouth.

“Rick…” Mike said in a warning tone. Ricky relented, knowing his dad didn’t want to talk about Lynne moving to Chicago any more than he did.

They were quiet for the rest of breakfast. Ricky was skimming through his script for Beauty and the Beast. The show was on Friday and he was off-book, but he had found that going over his script had a sort of calming effect on him. His mom (and Todd) were coming into town for opening night, and to finalize the divorce paperwork. (“Killing two birds with one stone” his mom had said when she told him. He tried not to think about how it felt to be another box on his mom’s to-do list). Ricky put his bowl in the sink and grabbed his backpack and skateboard, getting ready to leave for school. He was halfway out the door when his dad called out, stepping out of the kitchen and looking worried.

“I know this has been hard,” He began. “And I know none of it has been on your terms, so just… think about it, okay? Think about it and we’ll do whatever we can to make this okay for you.”

Ricky nodded at his dad, giving him a smile before he closed the door behind him.

Ricky was halfway to school when he took jumping a curb wrong and ended up wiping out, landing hard on the sidewalk. He sat up, doing a quick check to make sure he didn’t feel pain and that his helmet was still in one piece.

As he climbed to his feet, he kicked himself for having not been paying attention, too consumed with thinking about his conversation with his dad but Ricky also wasn’t hurt so he decided to consider it a win.

Until he saw his board.

However he had hit the curb, the force had taken one of the wheels right off of the trucks of his board, which, if this weren’t his primary mode of transport, would have been impressive because that was very much not supposed to happen. But this was his primary mode of transport and he really didn’t want to walk the rest of the way to school with a busted board.

Weighing his options of calling his dad and enduring a lecture on skateboard safety or paying for an Uber, he heard a car horn honk almost right next to him. He glanced up to see the passenger side window of Jeep Grand Cherokee unroll to reveal EJ.

_Great._ This was not what he needed.

“Hey, you okay?” the senior asked, eyes scanning Ricky.

“Yeah, I’m good” Ricky informed him, brushing himself off with the hand that wasn’t holding his skateboard, suddenly feeling self-conscious. “The board took most of it.”

“Yeah, I saw,” EJ grimaced. “Do you want a ride to school? Or the hospital, maybe?”

Less than six months ago, the idea that EJ Caswell would offer him, Ricky Bowen, a ride to anywhere other than the pits of hell was laughable.

But here he was, and Ricky was feeling a rush of adrenaline that he wasn’t entirely sure was due to his accident. Ricky noticed EJ watching him expectantly, waiting for an answer.

“Oh, uh… yeah, a ride to school would be great.” Ricky nodded, moving to open the door to the car. “Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it.” EJ watched him settle into the seat and get buckled. “What kind of Prince Adam would I be if I just left my loyal servant Lumiere to fend for himself?”

Ricky couldn’t help the snort that escaped him. “First of all, I’m pretty sure you’re the _only_ one who knows Beast’s real name. And secondly, he’s a selfish jerk, so it’s exactly the type of thing he’d do.”

“He starts out selfish,” EJ begins, putting the car back in drive. “But he turns back into Adam because he learns how to be better. _That’s_ the guy I’m trying to be here.”

“Fair enough,” Ricky said because… well, he wasn’t sure what else to say. EJ had changed a lot since they had first met during High School Musical auditions the previous semester and so had Ricky.

The guy EJ used to be probably wouldn’t have even stopped to see if Ricky was okay after face-planting on the way to school, let alone offered him a ride. They weren’t friends before and now, Ricky wasn’t entirely sure where they stood (it’s not like they’d ever talked about it), he was pretty confident they didn’t hate each other anymore.

They had hung out a lot at rehearsals the past few months, as Beast and Lumiere, slowly thawing their rivalry and becoming a type of friend Ricky didn’t really understand, but he knew he didn’t hate the other boy anymore.

Hell, he wasn’t even really sure he knew enough about EJ to hate him in the first place.

The thought brought a question into Ricky’s head. A question that he had wondered absently throughout the year, but never actually managed to ask.

“What does EJ stand for?” Ricky asked, taking off his helmet and ruffling his hair.

“Everybody’s Jealous.” EJ said without missing a beat or taking his eyes off the road.

There was a brief pause before both boys started cracking up.

“Dude, there’s no way.” Ricky snickered. “How did you even come up with that so quickly?”

“Honestly, I have no idea,” EJ admitted, turning into the parking lot of the school. “but I’m also not telling you my real name.”

“Why not?” Ricky asked, indignant, as EJ pulled into a parking spot. “You know my real name!”

“Yeah, well, it’s not that hard to figure out, _Richard_.” EJ rolled his eyes. “I don’t like my name, and I don’t want it getting spread around school.”

“I’m a great secret keeper though!” Ricky hopped out of the car and sped to the other side to continue his conversation with EJ. “I know Big Red’s real name and most of our teachers don’t even know what it is!”

EJ gave him a dry look as they walked towards the building. “You’ll forgive me if I don’t believe you’ll protect my secret like you do your best friend’s. I’m not going to tell you what it is, Ricky, so you might as well let it go.

“Let it go? Alright.” Ricky relented. Then he grinned. “Just be aware of what you’re getting yourself into, Elsa Jasmine.”

“Ooh, no, no, no.” EJ shook his head. “I don’t like that. I don’t like where this is going.”

“You can make it stop, Edward Jacob.” Ricky taunted him. “Just tell me what it stands for.”

“Never.” EJ vowed as they came to a stop in the hall, where they needed to split up to make it to their respective classes. EJ tried to speed away before Ricky could come up with any other horrible name ideas but he wasn’t quick enough:

“Then get used to it, Eeyore Jiminy!”

Ricky heard EJ’s groan despite being several feet away and the noise of the crowded halls and EJ heard Ricky’s resulting laughter.

\--

Unfortunately, Ricky’s good mood ended almost as quickly as it began. He pulled his phone out once he made it to homeroom, intending to text Big Red about his busted skateboard, only to find a missed call from his mom and a text from her that just read _call me when you can._ He wasn’t sure what she could want to talk to him about before 8am on a Monday, but something told him it wasn’t going to be good.

They still had a few minutes before school technically began and his homeroom teacher was pretty chill, so Ricky decided, for once, to just bite the bullet.

The phone only rang twice before he heard a familiar voice.

“ _Ricky?”_

“Hey, Mom,” Ricky smiled. He had his issues with his mother, but somehow just hearing her voice always made him feel better.

“ _I wasn’t expecting you to call so soon. Don’t you have school?”_ She asked. He could hear papers shuffling in the background.

“Yeah, but we’ve still got a few minutes before the bell rings.” He told her. “So, what’s up?”

“ _I wanted to talk to you about Todd.”_ She sounded a little apprehensive and Ricky’s stomach dropped.

“Okay?” He prompted, bracing for…he wasn’t sure.

“ _Sweetie, I really want you two to get along and for this weekend to go well.”_ She began. “ _You don’t know how much I miss you.”_

“I miss you too, Mom.” Ricky said, frowning. He wasn’t sure where this was going or why she wasn’t getting to the point. His mother was always fairly direct, not seeing the point in beating around the bush.

_“I know you’re bisexual, and you’re out, and I am so proud of you and love you no matter what—”_ Ricky sucked in a breath, waiting for the word that was going to undo all the nice things she just said.

“ _—but—”_ she faltered for a moment and Ricky started to feel panic creeping up his spine. “ _Todd’s not as…open-minded, sweetie. He’s not homophobic – he would never hate anyone! He just… he doesn’t like…that stuff…”_

“That stuff?” Ricky was at a total loss. Not only was his mother dating this guy, but she was also defending him?

“ _Just…seeing people and too much PDA and that sort of thing, you understand. But what I’m saying is…”_ She took a deep breath before, somehow, making the conversation even worse. _“It would mean a lot to me if you just didn’t mention your sexuality or anything like that with Todd. I really want you to get along and I think it would help you get off on the right foot.”_

“Class is starting, Mom. I gotta go.” Ricky said numbly before hanging up the call without waiting for her to respond.

Ricky sat, silently, through his first two classes, barely able to pay attention. He didn’t even know where to begin processing his conversation with his mother and was left with it just playing on repeat in his head, over and over.

How could she ask him to hide part of himself?

How could she date a guy like that?

Was this even coming from Todd?

Ricky didn’t want to admit it, but his mom hadn’t been the most supportive when he came out to her. They hadn’t actually talked about it since, and, given that she had hung up the phone almost immediately afterwards, part of Ricky wasn’t even sure if she had heard him until now, that is.

But this was his _mom_. She loved him no matter what, right? She had just said so.

Ricky was still in a fog when he entered his third period English class. It was the first class of the day that he shared with any of his best friends, which could not have come at a better time for Ricky because he felt like he was going to totally lose it if he didn’t talk to someone soon. He walked in, immediately noticing that they had a substitute teacher, meaning they would use the class as a study hall. Ricky had never been so happy to see a substitute in his life, which was saying something.

He slid into his seat next to Nini.

He had barely opened his mouth before she spoke: “What’s wrong? You’re really pale.”

“My mom called.” He said, suddenly even more anxious to tell her. Saying it out loud made it real. He couldn’t pretend it was just a horrible dream if he told her. But he knew it wasn’t a dream and he knew he had to tell someone and Nini would understand.

She always did.

“Okay,” Nini looked at him carefully, waiting for him to continue.

And he did.

He told her everything, from his conversation with his dad that morning (had it really just been a few hours ago?), to his call with his mom. He even mentioned EJ giving him a ride to school because on any other day, that would be the big thing he would want to talk to her about, but today it was just a footnote in an emotionally trying day.

“Wow.” Nini opened her mouth, closed it, then opened it again: “I don’t even really know where to begin with that… actually, yes I do. Ricky, your mom is wrong to ask you to do that.”

Ricky nodded. “Yeah, that’s kind of the only thing I’m sure of right now.” He still felt better, though, hearing someone else say it.

“Good.” Nini said firmly. “Does your dad know?”

“No, I don’t think so.” Ricky shook his head. “I think he would’ve tried to warn me if he did. I just don’t get how she could say that to me?”

“I don’t know either, Ricky,” Nini put a comforting hand on his arm. They’d been through a lot together in their decade of friendship. She was as constant a presence in his life as the sun – always there, even if he couldn’t see her. She had been the first person he came out to, back in sophomore year. They had just started dating and he had felt terrible telling her, like he was going to ruin everything.

But he didn’t.

She had accepted him, loved him (though she didn’t say those words until several months later) and he had been okay.

Their friendship had even survived two breakups – the first over the summer and the second a few weeks after High School Musical had wrapped. They had both realized that while they did love each other, they missed their friendship. (Ricky joked once that they should win some sort of award for most amicable breakup, only for Kourtney to suggest they also win an award for messiest breakup for their first breakup).

“I’m glad we’re friends, Nini,” Ricky said after a long pause. He genuinely didn’t know what he would do without her.

“Me too,” Nini smiled at him. “Do you want to keep talking about this, or do you want to go over the trig homework?”

“We had trig homework?”

\--

After what seemed like eons, the bell signaling lunch finally rang. He and Nini made their way down the cafeteria. They were the last of their group to make it to their usual lunch table, sliding into the last two open seats – Ricky between Big Red and Nini.

They exchanged the usual greetings, chatting while they settled in, before Carlos spoke up.

“I hope you all got enough sleep last night because something tells me we’ll be in rehearsal till dawn today.” Carlos glanced around at them.

“And that’s different from other days how, Carlos?” EJ quipped, pulling out his lunch. Ricky watched him unpack his food – EJ always had the best lunches. They were like full meals versus the granola bar and peanut butter sandwich that Ricky had (they were out of jelly). 

“Someone’s feeling feisty today,” Gina commented, smirking at EJ. Since Gina had moved in with Ashlyn over winter break (and being cast as the leads), she and EJ had formed a relationship that was largely built on bickering and seeing who could out-sass the other. Ricky often joined in, never one to give up an opportunity to tease the senior, and today was no different:

“Aww, Elphaba Javert is just worried about missing out on his beauty sleep.” Ricky smirked at EJ, who scowled.

  
“What was that?” Kourtney asked, looking between the two, incredulous.

“He’s trying to guess what EJ stands for,” EJ explained with a sigh, vengefully stabbing a piece of chicken.

“And your guess is Elphaba Javert?” Gina looked at Ricky, amused.

Ricky grinned. “I’m just trying to demonstrate to Mr. Ezekiel Jedediah Caswell here—”

“No” EJ cut in, firmly.

“Shh” Ricky shushed the senior, who rolled his eyes, then continued like there was never an interruption, “—that there are worse names than whatever his is.”

“He’s got a point, EJ” Ashlyn gave her cousin a look.

“What he’s _got_ is a mild concussion from wiping out on his skateboard this morning and a serious lack of common sense.” EJ informed them, pointing at Ricky with his chicken-speared fork.

“You wiped out?” Big Red asked, curious. Ricky suddenly remembered that he had forgotten to text his friend about it, his phone call with his mom having thrown him off.

“Yeah, broke my board too,” Ricky nodded sadly. “And that’s still somehow not the worst part of my day.”

“Oh no, what happened?” Seb asked, looking concerned.

Ricky took a deep breath before giving them a quick summary of the conversation with his dad that morning and then the highlight reel of his conversation with his mom in homeroom. By the time he finished, the entire table looked either horrified or ready for blood.

Kourtney was the first to speak: “That’s fucked up.”

“Seriously, she’s going to pretend to be supportive while actively working against that?” Carlos looked disgusted.

“Dude, no offence, but she sounds like the worst.” Gina said.

  
“Yeah, it just sucks because, like, what do I do? Do I just go along with it? Do I try to get out of it?” Ricky shrugged. “I don’t want to like… tell my dad on her, but I know she hasn’t said anything about it to him because he’d be ready to fight Todd. He’s been super supportive since I came out to him.” Ricky shook his head, smiling a little. “He seriously emailed the coordinators of Salt Lake City’s Pride parade asking if he can help build floats or if they need his truck to tow them.”

“We love Mike Bowen.” Nini nodded as the table laughed. They had all gotten to know Mike a bit this semester since in addition to building floats for the Salt Lake City Pride parade, he also had volunteered to help build their sets for Beauty and the Beast – though part of Ricky suspected that was more to do with his drama teacher than an interest in musical theater.

“So, what are you going to do?” Ashlyn asked, bringing Ricky back to the present.

“I have no idea.” Ricky groaned. “I don’t even know what I _can_ do.”

“Well, if there’s one thing I’ve learned from movies,” Carlos began. “It’s that nothing can’t be solved by bringing a fake date.”

The table roared in laughter, and Ricky shook his head, grinning. “You know, it’s not the worst idea. It’d piss Todd off for sure and what’s my mom going to do? Be mad that I have a boyfriend?”

_She might_ , a little voice in the back of Ricky’s head said, but he ignored it.

Slinging an arm around Ricky’s shoulders, Big Red piped up: “I’d say I’d be your fake boyfriend, Ricky, but I don’t think they’d buy it.”  
  


“Are you kidding? What’s not to buy?” Gina looked incredulous between the two.  
  


“His dad knows I’m dating Ashlyn?” Big Red said, a little uncertainly, dropping his arm from Ricky’s shoulders.

“Yeah, if it wasn’t for that, it’d be a no-brainer, dude.” Ricky agreed, bumping his friend’s shoulder.

“Sorry.” Ashlyn said jokingly to Ricky, offering him a smile, which he returned.

“I’d offer too, but I have a strict rule about putting myself in a homophobe’s line of fire.” Carlos declared, taking a bite of his yogurt.

“Yeah, same here. Sorry, Ricky” Seb looked guilty. “Also, Thursday is the day one of our sheep is expected to give birth so I can’t really miss it.”

Ricky waved him off: “Don’t worry about it, guys. I’ll tough it out. Thanks, though.” He was touched they would even consider it, given that he himself wanted nothing more than a reason to not have this dinner. And given that he didn’t know what to expect from Todd, he certainly didn’t want to put his friends in a position that could be dangerous for them.

“You didn’t ask me,” EJ spoke up, sitting up straighter at the table. Everyone got quiet again and Ricky suddenly felt the urge to run.

“What?” He asked, not entirely believing he understood what EJ was talking about. (Though, really, what else could he have been talking about?).

“You didn’t ask me if I wanted to be your fake boyfriend.” EJ said steadily, not breaking eye contact with Ricky.

Out of the corner of his eye, Ricky could see various levels of confusion on their friends’ faces and he couldn’t blame them. He couldn’t explain why, but something told him agreeing to let EJ be his fake boyfriend would be a _very_ bad idea… but… he also couldn’t come up with reason to say no, especially when EJ was staring at him so intently.

“Oh…uhh…do you wanna be my fake boyfriend?” He asked, fighting to keep himself from blushing. ( _Why was he blushing?_ )

“Sure.” EJ smiled, relaxing his posture. “I’m always game for a free meal and picking fights with people’s mom’s shitty boyfriends.”

“Okay?” Ricky glanced at Nini, who gave him a weird look.

“Dinner’s on Thursday?” EJ confirmed, fiddling with his phone.

“Yeah, at six.” Ricky responded, his brain still trying to catch up with what was happening. “Since we don’t have rehearsal on Thursday, because it’s tech run-through.”

The bell signaling the end of lunch and everyone started grabbing their stuff.

“Great! We can work out the details later. See you later…babe,” EJ winked then walked off, leaving the whole table (or at least Ricky) frozen for a moment.

“What just happened?” He wondered aloud, staring after EJ.

“I don’t know,” Carlos frowned, also staring after EJ. “But I cannot wait to see what happens next.”

\--

It was tech week, the week leading up to opening night, so they had rehearsals every day after school that lasted well into the night, but Miss Jenn was nice enough to give them an hour right after school to do homework, get food, and just not use their brains for an hour.

Normally, Ricky took the opportunity to skate home and eat as much food as he could before he had to skate back to East High. Of course, today, that wasn’t going to happen so he was probably going to starve.

He groaned as the final bell rang and he pushed is way through the halls towards his locker. Idly, he wondered if his dad would bring him food if he had time. He _could_ walk home but going there and back would take up most of his free time and –

“Hey, Ricky.” EJ appeared beside his locker, snapping him out of his thoughts.

“Hey,” Ricky replied, pulling his broken skateboard out of his locker. “What’s up?”

“I was wondering if you wanted a ride home or to get food or something, since…” EJ glanced at the skateboard.

“You don’t have to,” Ricky tried. He wasn’t used to EJ being this _nice_ to him. Sure, they’d come a long way since being actively mean, but this was a level of effort Ricky only got from Big Red or Nini.

“I know I don’t.” EJ smiled easily. “but we’re fake boyfriends now, right? Can’t let you starve.”

“Okay, thanks.” Ricky was suddenly felt like he was a thousand degrees and made a mental note to change into a short-sleeved shirt when he got home.

They walked silently out to EJ’s car and climbed in – an experience that was both completely foreign and yet already entirely familiar to Ricky.

EJ plugged his phone into the aux chord and the opening notes of _Be Our Guest_ started pouring through the speakers.

“Really?” Ricky looked at him, amused. “You’re not tired of Beauty and the Beast?”

EJ grinned as he put the car in drive. “First of all, it’s impossible to be tired of this song. Second, I like singing the other parts. I do a great Mrs. Potts!”

“Now that’s a show I’d pay to see.” Ricky laughed, imagining EJ in Ashlyn’s teapot costume.

“I tried to talk Miss Jenn into it, but apparently that’s not what “double casting” means,” EJ joked.

“If that boy could figure out a way to play Romeo and Juliet, his own cousin would be ace out of a job.” Ricky replied.

“I—did you just quote High School Musical at me?” EJ stared at him, looking pleased. His eyes were dancing with laughter and Ricky immediately forgot what he had just said. “Ricky Bowen, we might make a theater dork out of you yet!”

They pulled up in front of Ricky’s house. Ricky started to get out of the car, only to stop when he realized EJ wasn’t moving.

“You can come in, if you want,” Ricky offered. “We’ve got plenty of food if you want something to eat.”

EJ shook his head. “Thanks, but I was gonna hit Taco Bell on our way back to school.”

“That sounds a lot better than whatever we have in the house,” Ricky acknowledged. “I’m gonna do that too… but let me just run inside to drop some stuff off?”

“Yeah, take your time.” EJ shrugged. Ricky nodded, before grabbing his stuff and sprinting inside.

The front door was unlocked, which meant his dad was home. He dashed upstairs, dropping his skateboard on the floor of his room and quickly changing shirts. He dumped half the contents of his backpack on the floor, keeping only what he would need to do to turn in tomorrow. Then, he ran back downstairs and slid into the kitchen, looking for his dad.

“Hey, Ricky!” His dad greeted, looking up from his phone. “You made good time coming home.”

“EJ gave me a ride,” he explained, suddenly feeling nervous. “We’re gonna get food before rehearsal but I wanted to drop some stuff off first.”

Mike nodded. “And you’ll be home late, right?”

“Yeah, hopefully before midnight but we’ll see.” Ricky confirmed.

“Okay. See if you can get a ride home, alright?” Mike asked. “I can come get you if you can’t, but I don’t want you skating home that late.” 

“I’m sure I can.” _I can just ask EJ,_ Ricky thought, which reminded him of a _different_ thing he had asked EJ and needed to talk about with his dad. “Hey Dad? About Thursday?”

“Yeah?” His dad put his phone down, focusing on Ricky.

“I was thinking we might invite some other people?” Ricky looked at his dad nervously. “Like it might take some of the pressure off, you know?”

“Yeah, we can do that.” Mike nodded. “You want to invite Nini and Big Red then?”

“They’re busy.” Ricky lied quickly. “I was actually thinking I’d invite EJ? We’re sort of… dating?”

There, he said it. The lie rolled off his tongue with surprising ease.

“You and EJ? Good for you!” Mike smiled. “I know this is going to be weird, Rick. So, invite whoever you want. Whoever makes you comfortable. If that’s your new boyfriend, then great! Can’t wait to meet him.”

“And you can invite someone if you want, too, Dad.” Ricky offered trying to get the teasing to stop. His mind flashing to one of his dad’s fishing buddies or one of Nini’s moms. If you needed emotional support, the Salazar-Roberts were always a good choice.

“Yeah, we’ll see.” His dad shrugged. “This is about you and Todd, remember.”

“Right.” Ricky said quickly, thrilled at how simple that had been. “Okay, I gotta go – EJ’s waiting.”

And he ran back outside to EJ’s waiting car to find EJ belting to _Home_.

“ _My heart's far, far away_ _! Home's a lie—_ You ready?” EJ asked, turning the volume down.

“Yeah! And I told him you’re coming to dinner on Thursday as my boyfriend, and he’s fine with it.” Ricky told him as EJ started driving.

“Ahh, so what you’re saying is it’s too late to back out?” EJ commented.

“What? No! I mean, if you don’t want to, of course you don’t have to,” Ricky stammered, anxiety peaking for about the ninth time that day. Of course EJ would change his mind – who would want to put themselves in an awkward situation? Sure, Ricky had done it before when he was trying to win Nini back, but that was different.

“Dude, chill. I’m just messing with you.” EJ chuckled. “I’m not backing out.”

“Not cool, Earnest Jackass, not cool.” Ricky huffed, secretly relieved that EJ was still coming to dinner. It was amazing how comforted he felt just by the idea of the other boy being there to help him face his mom and Todd.

“Oh, I thought you’d forgotten about the names.” EJ groaned, making a turn.

“Dream on, Ego Jock.” Ricky leaned forward to turn the music up as _Gaston_ started to play. “Now, do you want to sing Le Fou or Gaston?”

“Gaston, all the way!” EJ started air-conducting.

They sang at the top of their lungs, dancing as best they could for being confined in the car.

The car pulled into the parking lot of Taco Bell and EJ made his way to the drive-thru, turning down the music. They ordered at the little speaker-box and were told to pull around to the next window to pay. Ricky reached for his wallet to give EJ some cash to cover his half of the food, but the senior waved him off.

“No, I got it.” EJ handed over the money.

“I’ve got the money right here,” Ricky tried again but EJ was having none of it.

“Keep your money, Ricky. I invited you for food, so I pay. That’s how it works. It’s called manners,” he explained, accepting the bag of food he was handed. That wasn’t exactly true, since Ricky had technically invited himself to Taco Bell, but he didn’t think bringing up would change anything.

“Thanks,” he said softly. EJ smiled at him.

\--

Rehearsal was going surprisingly well. It was still running over time (Miss Jenn had said she wanted to end at nine with a more realistic expectation that they’d be lucky if they got out before eleven), but given the number of disasters they had faced for High School Musical, this was smooth sailing and everyone was in pretty high spirits.

They were currently stalled, as Carlos and Miss Jenn made some final tweaks to the choreography of _Gaston_.

Ricky watched from audience, sitting with his Lumiere hands on. Prop master Big Red had outdone himself building them, except that, Ricky couldn’t take them off (or put them on) without help, so once they were on, they typically stayed on till rehearsal was over.

He was fiddling with the little switch inside that turned the “candle” on and off when EJ plopped down next to him.

“If you break that, Big Red’s going to kill you,” the senior warned.

Ricky’s hands stilled and he looked at EJ, sheepish. “Sorry. I can’t help it.”

EJ nodded, understandingly and was quiet for a moment. “I was thinking we’d need to practice.” He said.

“We are at practice?” Ricky said, confused, pointing with his candle-hand towards the stage where Carlos was demonstrating a move.

“No, dumbass,” EJ rolled his eyes. “Practice dating… or fake dating, I guess.”

“Why would we practice?” Ricky asked. It seemed pretty straightforward to him: hold hands, occasional touches, maybe a kiss on the cheek. What was to practice?

“You’ve never had a boyfriend before.” EJ stated patiently.

“And you have?” Ricky challenged, feeling defensive all of a sudden.

“Not in so many words.” EJ granted. “Let’s just say Nini wasn’t my first showmance, okay?”

“Okay…” Ricky looked at him, trying to figure out what was happening. He did that a lot with EJ, he noticed, but he never seemed to get anywhere. “So, what exactly do you want to practice, Elephant Jaguar?”

Rolling his eyes at the name, EJ elaborated: “Well, for starters, we’ve got some things we need to get straight. Our backstory, for instance. How we got together, how long we’ve been dating, stuff like that. If there’s anything I should know or if anything’s off-limits.”

“I mean, I’m bringing you, my ex-girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend, as _my_ boyfriend to help me piss off my mom’s homophobic boyfriend at the dinner celebrating her divorce from my dad, who will also be there, so I’m not really sure what I’d consider to be off-limits?” Ricky noted. “What about you?”

EJ snorted. “Fair enough. I guess for me…” EJ shrugged. “I just don’t really want to talk about my parents…” He trailed off, “Anyway, this is for you, not me.”

“No talking about Edna and Jamison Caswell – got it!” Ricky nodded.

“Why do I even bother?” EJ muttered.

“Because I’m the best boyfriend you’ve ever had,” Ricky joked, bumping his shoulder against EJ’s.

“Well, you’re also the worst boyfriend I’ve ever had,” EJ pointed out, trying not to smile.

Ricky shrugged: “Yeah, I get that lot. Just let me have the win, okay?”

“Sure.” EJ leaned back, looking at Ricky. “So, how did we get together, Bowen?”

“I say we keep it simple and as close to the truth as possible,” Ricky began slowly. “We got to know each other because of the musical, started hanging out, and it kinda just morphed from there?”

“Simple enough,” EJ replied. “No big declaration of love or anything?”

Ricky snorted: “I’ve done exactly one big declaration of love in my life and we all know how that ended.” Ricky nodded his head towards Nini, who sat a few rows away, talking quietly with Kourtney.

“Fair enough. So, we’ve only been together a few weeks?” EJ wondered. “And we’ve been keeping it quiet because showmances can be messy?”

“Sure?” Ricky frowned, “I wasn’t really thinking that into it.”

“Yeah, well, I’m an actor, Bowen, EJ said cockily. “I like knowing who my character is so I can play them accordingly.”

“You’re playing yourself, EJ.” Ricky told him. “The only difference is this version of you wants to date me.”

“Right.” EJ nodded.

\--

Miss Jenn finally ended rehearsal just before eleven, giving them forty-five minutes of notes before telling them to rest up and sending them on their way.

Dead on his feet, Ricky grabbed his stuff and hurried up to EJ, who was packing up his own belongings.

“Hey,” Ricky started, shifting from foot to foot. “Would you mind giving me a ride home?”

“Course not.” EJ responded.

“Thanks,” Ricky felt a wave of relief wash over him. “I’d have asked sooner but—”

“Ricky, don’t worry about,” EJ slung his backpack over his shoulder. “I kinda figured I’d be giving you a ride home since I’m the one who brought you.” They headed towards the parking lot, EJ humming one of Beast’s songs quietly as they walked.

“What’s your favorite song in the musical?” Ricky asked, curious.

“Probably either Be Our Guest or Beauty and the Beast.” EJ answered with a shrug. “Not to be basic, but they’re both great songs. What about you?”

“It depends on the day.” Ricky said, fighting a yawn as they reached EJ’s car. “But right now, probably Something There.”

“Another good one.” EJ said as they climbed in the car. He reached for the aux chord again, fiddling with his phone. “Ready to sing Belle?”

“What?” Ricky looked at him. EJ’s face was illuminated by the glow of his phone.

“We’re gonna sing Something There, and you’re going to be Belle.” EJ explained, grinning.

“You already get to be Beast in the show, why do you get to sing Beast now too?” Ricky asked, indignant.

“Because it’s my role!” EJ declared. “I need all the practice I can get.”

“Yeah, right.” Ricky rolled his eyes. “Fine, I’ll be Belle.”

EJ hit play and threw the car into gear as the opening notes filled the car.

Ricky started singing, his voice straining at being outside of his normal range. “ _And now he's dear and so unsure_ _I wonder why I_ – shut up!” Ricky smacked EJ’s arm because the other boy was laughing. “You made this happen! There’s a reason I wasn’t cast to play Belle!”

“Sorry!” EJ snickered, “I didn’t think you’d try to keep up with Susan Egan!”

“I’m a theater dork now!” Ricky told him. “I take this shit seriously! Now sing!”

EJ was still laughing and missed most of his verse, finally coming in at the end: “ _But then she’s never looked at me that way before!”_

Then it was Ricky’s turn and the verse had several sustained notes and one particularly high one (for him), but he took a deep breath and did his best, only making it halfway or so before he and EJ were cracking up and he couldn’t finish it. Ricky managed to get himself under control enough to finish the song as Lumiere as overdramatically and passionately as he could: “ _We’ll wait and see, a few days more. There may be something there that wasn’t there before!”_ Ricky sung the line, looking at EJ who was still laughing, barely visible in the dark car. He was struck, suddenly, that this song could easily be about them. Two people at odds, but then slowly come together once they start learning more about each other and…

He tried to shake the feeling as EJ pulled to a stop outside of Ricky’s house. It was just his over-tired brain making things up. He and EJ were friends. That’s it. They did friend things, like hang out and get food. EJ paid for Ricky’s because he knew Ricky had had a bad day, that’s it. There was nothing _more_ there. He was friends with EJ like he was friends with Big Red.

Right?

_But Big Red doesn’t make you nervous like EJ does,_ said a little voice in the back of his head that sounded annoyingly like Nini.

“Thanks for the ride,” Ricky said, a little too loudly given how quiet the car was.

“Yeah, of course,” EJ turned to him. “Do you want a ride to school tomorrow?”

“I—” Ricky started. He wanted to say no, just that’s what he did when he didn’t know what was happening: he pushed people away. But the truth was he _did_ want a ride to school just for an excuse to hang out with EJ a little more and if EJ was offering… “Yeah, that’d be great.”

“Great” EJ smiled. “I’ll text you when I’m on my way.”

“Sounds good!” Ricky said, climbing out of the car. “Text me when you get home, too” he said before he could stop himself. Then he slammed the door and ran inside before he could say anything else he’d regret. 

Half an hour later, Ricky was stepping out of the shower, feeling so drained that he was sure he’d be asleep within seconds of climbing in bed. He grabbed his phone to charge it for the night and saw he had a missed text. He glanced at it, having momentarily forgotten why he had been avoiding his phone since arriving home.

It was from EJ.

_Made it home safe. Good night :)_

\--

Ricky was in a rush the next morning. He was normally in a rush in the mornings since he frequently slept through his alarms and today was no different.

He moved through the house like a human tornado, throwing things in his bag and running down the stairs while also putting on his shoes. He slid into the kitchen to find his dad standing at the counter, drinking a cup of coffee.

“Bad news,” his dad started, handing him some money. “I haven’t been to the grocery store so we’re out of lunch stuff, but here’s some money to buy lunch at school.”

Ricky nodded, taking the money and shoving it in his pocket. His phone buzzed and he swiped on the message to open it.

_Do you want breakfast?_ It said. It was from EJ, which was who he had been expecting the text to be from, but he had been thinking it would be telling him that EJ was on his way. Not offering him even more food.

He opened the cereal cabinet and was about to respond no, because he didn’t need EJ thinking he couldn’t feed himself, only to find the empty box that he’d unthinkingly put in there yesterday. He hadn’t eaten since Taco Bell yesterday and he didn’t think he could make it till lunch, so he swallowed his pride (which wasn’t as filling as a real breakfast) and sent back a “ _yes please_ ” to the other boy.

Then just for good measure added “ _I always want food”._

The response was almost instantaneous: _lol I figured but its nicer to ask._

_You and your food manners smh,_ Ricky replied. What was he doing? Was he flirting? Why was he flirting?

, came the response.

Then:

_Be there in five_

Was EJ flirting back? What was happening right now?

He must have looked distressed because his dad peered over at him. “You okay, Ricky?”

  
“Yeah, I’m good, Dad.” Ricky managed a smile. “Just tired and stressed. I’ll see you later.” 

“Alright. Have a good day!” Mike said, going back to his coffee.

Ricky stood on the front steps, trying to get himself under control. He might like EJ, which was fine. Well, it wasn’t, but Ricky could handle it. Probably.

He would just force it down deep, bury it, and never acknowledge it and everyone would go on with their lives.

He’d get over it. His feelings were just because EJ was being nice to him recently and Ricky was more of a disaster than usual, so clearly his judgement was compromised but as soon as the musical was over and EJ wasn’t pretending to be his boyfriend anymore, everything would be fine.

Except EJ hadn’t started pretending to be his boyfriend yet. It was just for dinner with his mom and Todd in two days. So then… why was EJ being so nice? Why was he flirting with Ricky? _Was_ he even flirting with Ricky?

Ricky’s internal downward spiral stopped when, for the second morning in a row, a car honked at him.

Ricky sped forward and jumped into the car, trying to push his internal panic aside. “Morning”

“Morning!” EJ greeted brightly. “Here’s your breakfast bagel.” He handed Ricky the bagel, wrapped in paper towels and still warm.

“Thank you so much.” Ricky said, taking an enormous bite of the bagel. It had scrambled eggs, cheese, and several pieces of bacon on it. “Did you make this?”

“No, our chef made it.” EJ shrugged, pulling away from Ricky’s house.

Ricky turned to look at him, his mouth still full. “Your _chef?_ ”

“Don’t talk with your mouth full!” EJ chided him. “Yes. Our chef. His name is Wilson and he’s how my parents make sure I’m fed when they’re out of town for weeks at a time.”

Ricky suddenly felt bad for making a deal out of it. He swallowed his bite of bagel, searching for something to say. “Well, he makes a mean breakfast sandwich.”

EJ cracked a smile. “I’ll tell him. I think he’s disappointed sometimes that he only cooks for me.”

“If the rest of his meals are anything like that,” Ricky gestured to what was left of his breakfast. “I’ll come over any time to eat.”

“He’d like that.” EJ smiled. “We both would.”

“How about dinner on Thursday?” Ricky suggested. “We can say we have dinner with _your_ parents to get out of dinner with mine.”

“I would but I already told him I won’t be home for dinner on Thursday.” EJ made the turn into the school parking lot and Ricky was almost sad that they’d be parting ways soon.

“You’re killing me here, Electronica Jazz.” Ricky groaned.

“Be honest – how much time do you put into these nicknames?” EJ asked curiously, parking the car.

“Absolutely none.” Ricky lied, trying not to think of the ever-growing list on his Notes app, or the fact that Gina had texted him a couple of suggestions.

EJ gave him a flat look, clearly not believing Ricky. Ricky jumped out of the car and sped around to the driver’s side, deciding to change the subject before EJ could press him any further. “Must be nice, though, to not have to worry about grocery shopping or anything. We haven’t had time to go to the store in forever and we’re officially out of food.”

“Yeah?” EJ shot him a concerned look as they started towards the school. “Well, we can go get food again before rehearsal if you want.”

“Ooooh can we?” Ricky looked at EJ wide-eyed. “My dad actually gave me money this morning for food and I’ve been craving a milkshake…”

EJ laughed and threw an arm around Ricky’s shoulders as they entered the building. Ricky was glad the close proximity meant EJ couldn’t see his face, because Ricky was sure that he was so red that matched EJ’s letterman jacket. 

“I think we can figure something out.” EJ said, nodding at one of his friends as they passed, his arm still around Ricky. “I actually know a place – they’ve got the best milkshakes.”

“I’m in!” Ricky agreed quickly as they hit the spot in the hall where they go in opposite directions. EJ’s arm dropped off his shoulders and Ricky found himself missing it almost immediately.

_Get a grip,_ he told himself.

“Great!” EJ grinned and turned to walk down the hall. “It’s a date!”

Oh, he was so fucked.

\--

Ricky’s day went smoothly. He was able to pay minimal attention in his classes while he did homework for other classes, which meant he’d have less to do during rehearsal. Working on homework also came with the added benefit of keeping his brain busy so he didn’t spend all his time thinking about EJ, or their ‘date’ after school.

Which wasn’t actually a date, because that’s a thing people say all the time when talking about non-date things.

But that didn’t stop him from being excited.

When the bell finally rang, dismissing them for the day, Ricky was out of class and to his locker before the hallways had even gotten crowded. He wasn’t sure where he and EJ were meeting, but he wasn’t left wondering for long because almost as soon as he thought it, EJ appeared, leaning against the lockers.

“Hey, we still on for milkshakes?” EJ asked.

“Absolutely!” Ricky nodded, zipping up his backpack. “I’ve been looking forward to this all day!”

“Yeah?” EJ gave him a soft look.

“Yeah! I was promised the best milkshake!” Ricky bumped his shoulder into EJ’s as they walked down the hall. Part of Ricky wondered if they should invite anyone else, but he squished the thought before he could even fully think it. Inviting other people would mean he wouldn’t get to hang out with _just_ EJ, and, for some reason, that was really what Ricky wanted.

They chatted about their respective days on the way to EJ’s car. Upon climbing into the passenger seat, Ricky grabbed the aux chord, plugging his phone in.

“Oh, so that’s how it is, huh?” EJ gave him a pointed look.

“We can still listen to Disney,” Ricky placated. “But I need a break from Beauty and the Beast, alright?”

“Yeah, yeah,” EJ groused, starting the car. Ricky found his Disney playlist and hit play. The opening notes of _Can You Feel the Love Tonight?_ coming through the speakers.

“No.” EJ said immediately.

“What?”

“No.” EJ repeated, staring straight ahead. “No Lion King. Change the song.”

Ricky skipped the song and a song from Moana started playing. “What do you have against the Lion King?”

“It’s overrated.” EJ shrugged, as they turned out of the parking lot. “And I don’t like it.”

Ricky had about a thousand more questions, but EJ seemed tense and he didn’t want to start off their hangout by annoying EJ. “Okay, Eugene Jafar. No Lion King.”

They were silent for a few moments, listening to Moana sing about how far she’ll go.

“How are you feeling about the dinner?” EJ asked.

“Like I just want to get it over with.” Ricky groaned. “It’s just, like, this dark cloud I have to go through before I can really focus on opening night, which sucks.”

“I get that,” EJ nodded. “It’s kinda taking away from the whole experience.”

“Right! And I get I should be happy my mom’s coming all the way from Chicago to see the show, but… I don’t know” Ricky sighed. “I guess it just feels like it’s more about her, than me?”

They turned into a parking lot of a diner that Ricky had never been to before. They walked in and the place was mostly deserted, just one guy sitting at the counter. EJ led them to a booth in the back, sliding in as the waitress walked up. They ordered quickly and she walked off, leaving them in a heavy silence. She came back a few minutes later with drinks and their milkshakes before leaving again.

Finally, Ricky couldn’t take silence anymore. “Are your parents coming?” Ricky asked curiously.

EJ tensed, his hand gripping the glass so hard his knuckles turned white. “No, they won’t be in town.”

“Hey,” Ricky cut in gently. “We don’t have to talk about it. I’m sorry I asked. It was literally your only rule when this whole thing started.”

“Yeah, but that was more because I didn’t want to add my family drama to yours.” EJ rubbed his face.

“Well, I’ve now made you part of my family drama, so feel free!” Ricky tried to lighten the mood with a smile, but it fell flat. The waitress brought out the rest of their food and they spent a few minutes eating in silence before EJ started talking.

“It’s not that we have a _bad_ relationship…” EJ said slowly, “It’s just that people have to be around each other and talk to each other to have a relationship. We just occasionally exist in the same house together.”

Ricky couldn’t imagine how lonely that was, living like strangers. At least he still had his dad. EJ let go of his milkshake glass and let his hand fall to the table. Without even thinking, Ricky reached out and put his own hand on top of EJ’s. EJ gave him a weak smile.

“CASWELL!” came a shout over by the door. Both boys jumped, looking towards the noise to see three guys, all in letterman jackets, walking towards them.

“Shit,” EJ muttered, pulling his hand out from under Ricky’s. Then, louder to the three guys who were now at their table: “Hey guys!”

“What’s up, Cap?” The biggest one asked, sliding in next to Ricky and taking up most of the booth. EJ shot him an apologetic look.

“Just grabbing some food before rehearsal.” EJ said as one of the guys slid in with him and the third pulled up a chair.

“Right!” The guy next to EJ slapped his hand on the table. “The musical happens this week, right?” He leaned forward and grabbed a handful of EJ’s French fries.

“Yup.” EJ said shortly, frowning.

“Hey, weren’t you in the last musical?” The guy at the end of the table leaned forward, squinting at Ricky.

“Uh—yeah” Ricky said, feeling like a deer in headlights. “I was Troy.”

“I knew it!” He threw his fist in the air. “What’s your name? It’s like Nicky or something?”

“Ricky” EJ and Ricky said at the same time. EJ looked particularly annoyed.

“Good to meet you!” He grinned. “I’m Kevin. That’s Scott” he pointed to the dark-haired guy next to EJ. “And that’s Max” he pointed to the blond guy next to Ricky, who was now snacking on Ricky’s fries.

“Nice to meet you too,” Ricky said weakly, firmly squished in the corner.

“We can’t wait to see the show!” Kevin continued. “The whole team is gonna go together to support our captain.”

“Co-captain,” Max corrected lightly. “I’m the other co-captain” Max told Ricky, who just nodded.

“And he won’t let us forget it!” Scott said, hitting Max on the shoulder from across the table.

This was the most stereotypical jock interaction Ricky had ever witnessed. He felt totally out of his depth.

“We were actually just about to leave,” EJ cut in. “We gotta get back to school for rehearsal.”

Ricky shot him a grateful look. “Yeah, I’ll go pay.” Ricky volunteered, standing up on the seat before climbing over the back of the adjoining booth and making his way to the front of the diner. Ricky didn’t consider himself claustrophobic, but everything about that situation had made him feel trapped and a little short on air. He took a deep breath as he handed over the money, trying to calm his heart rate. He’s sure EJ’s friends are perfectly nice and mean well, but _damn_ did they have bad timing.

He felt a hand on his back and turned to see EJ. “You ready?”

  
Ricky nodded and turned towards the door, walking through it and out to the car.

EJ’s hand stayed on his back the entire time.

“I am so sorry.” EJ said as he started the car.

“It’s not your fault,” Ricky said quickly. And it wasn’t. Ricky knew EJ was just as blind-sighted as he was.

“Still,” EJ insisted. “They can be a lot and—that’s not how I wanted today to go.”

“How—how did you want today to go?” Ricky asked, completely forgetting about everything else.

“I kinda wanted to talk to you about fake dating,” EJ admitted. “I figured it’d be a good idea to get on the same page for what to expect. Like PDA and stuff.”

Ricky choked on air: “PDA?”

“Yeah, like obviously we won’t be making out or anything since your parents are there, but do we hold hands? Do we put our arms around each other?” EJ explained. “And do we have any nicknames?”

“Well, I think holding hands and stuff is okay. And would probably be good to piss Todd off.” Ricky said slowly. “And I don’t really have an opinion on nicknames.”

“Fair enough,” EJ nodded, his eyes on the road. He held out his hand to Ricky. “Waffles or pancakes?”

Ricky’s insides were twisting into anxious knots. He hadn’t been this nervous since… well, since he and Nini had gotten together the first time. Swallowing all of his nerves, Ricky reached forward and interlaced his fingers with EJ’s. “Waffles, all the way.”

“Oh good!” EJ smiled, squeezing Ricky’s hand. “This relationship just might work after all!”

\--

Today’s rehearsal was another full run-through of the show to work out any kinks and to get them used to staging the whole show.

They took a break for intermission, so Miss Jenn could go over Act 1 notes and remind people about some of yesterday’s Act 2 notes.

Ricky was sitting on the stage, staring irritated at his water bottle which he couldn’t open due to his Lumiere hands. Big Red normally helped him, but he was stuck talking with Miss Jenn about lighting cues.

“Need some help?” EJ asked, plopping down next to him. He grabbed the water bottle and unscrewed the lid. He held it up to Ricky’s mouth and Ricky took a long drink, only spilling a little.

“I normally have one with a straw,” Ricky admitted, feeling a little self-conscious. “But I couldn’t find it this morning.”

“You could also just ask for help taking off the hands,” EJ observed lightly.

“Yeah, they’re kind of a pain.” Ricky shrugged.

EJ nodded. “Hey, so I was thinking – since we didn’t get to finish our food earlier, we could grab pizza or something after rehearsal.”

“You know we can hang out without you buying me food, right?” Ricky looked at him.

“Sure, but we gotta eat, right?” EJ shrugged. “Might as well do it together. And anyway, you bought today, so it’s my turn.”

“I’m not sure that’s how it works.” Ricky frowned.

“Sure it is!” EJ stood up as Miss Jenn called for them to take their places for Act 2. “Plus, I’m driving you home, so we’re making a pizza detour. It’s happening!”

\--

Wednesday was weird.

The day started fairly normal – or at least for his new normal. EJ picked him up for school and gave him a breakfast bagel while the bickered about the best Disney musical (Ricky claiming it was Lion King just to irritate EJ and EJ was steadfastly defending Hercules).

Then it got weird.

All day, he felt like he was being stared at, like people were pointing to him and talking about him. He even texted EJ about it but he was, of course, very unhelpful ( _People are always staring at me. I’m me)._

He would have just chalked it up to paranoia or his mind playing tricks on him, but just before lunch, he was walking down the hall and saw EJ’s water polo friend, Max, further down the hall with several others. Max saw him then hit the person next to him on the arm and _pointed right at Ricky._

He didn’t know what they were saying about him, but it was weird, and Ricky was used to being more or less invisible in the halls.

Things got slightly back to normal at lunch. Their lunch table was chaotic enough on a normal day to make him forget about everything else and on the day of the dress rehearsal, everyone was particularly off the wall.

“Why would I buy any of you flowers?” EJ asked. “We’re all in the show together. You’re not special!”

“Thanks, EJ.” Gina said dryly. He stuck his tongue out at her.

“Nini writes cards for all the tech crew,” Big Red pointed out. “That’s so much more work than buying flowers.”

“It’s really not a big deal,” Nini flushed.

“What about you, Ricky?” Kourtney interjected. “How would you say thank you to your castmates? Flowers? Food?”

“Well, it’s like Elton John –” Ricky was cut off by the sounds of both EJ and Ashlyn choking. EJ on his chicken and Ashlyn on her water. The whole table fell silent as they watched the cousins splutter and cough. It was like a light bulb went on in Ricky’s head. 

“Oh my God – is that it?” Ricky asked, incredulous. “Is Elton John what EJ stands for?”

“No.” EJ said firmly, or as firmly as he could, still trying to catch his breath.

“Yes.” Ashlyn said at the same time. Then added to her cousin: “EJ, come on, there’s no point hiding it.”

EJ scowled. “Fine. Yes. My name is Elton John Caswell.”

The table was silent, digesting this information. Big Red was fighting a smile, as was Seb. Carlos and Gina were grinning like the Cheshire Cat and fighting back their laughter. Kourtney was looking at EJ like he had two heads. Nini was frowning and Ashlyn looked unphased by the revelation (to no one’s surprise).

Ricky, though, was elated – not only had he guessed it (which he wasn’t even _trying_ to do), but it was also _Elton John._

What a time to be alive.

“But you hate Elton John,” Nini pointed out, confused. “You refused to see the Elton John biopic with me when we were dating because you didn’t want to “waste two hours of your life on Elton John.”” She put the last part in air quotes.

“Yeah because he stole my name,” EJ was indignant, his ears turning red.

“He had the name first, EJ.” Ashlyn rolled her eyes. Clearly, this was an argument they had regularly.

“It’s not his given name though!” EJ exclaimed. “He changed it to be Elton John. He was _born_ Reginald Dwight. _I_ was named after my two grandfathers. It’s _my_ name!”

“Wow, this is like, a thing for you, huh?” Gina cocked her head at EJ, who flushed. Carlos was turning red from trying to hold back his laughter.  
  


“Oh, you have no idea,” Ashlyn muttered.

“Wait,” Ricky started, cutting EJ off from replying to his cousin. “Is that why you hate the Lion King?”

“You hate the Lion King?” Seb asked EJ, shocked.

“How do you hate the Lion King?” Carlos looked affronted.

“It’s just Hamlet with lions, okay? It’s not original. And the music is not Disney’s best. They got lazy!” EJ was getting more and more agitated.

“Yes, because “lazy” is the word that comes to mind when thinking about an animated musical.” Carlos said, dryly.

“Or Elton John.” Kourtney added.

“Look, I don’t have to explain myself to you!” EJ started throwing his lunch stuff in his backpack. “He’s the worst and I’m going to beat him!”

“Beat him?” Gina asked as the rest of the table tried to hide their snickering. “At what?”

“Everything!” EJ huffed then stormed away, out of the cafeteria.

“Is he going to be okay?” Nini asked Ashlyn, concerned.

“He’ll be fine.” She rolled her eyes. “He gets really upset when he talks about his “nemesis”.”

“Wow, and here I thought I was his nemesis.” Ricky joked, still looking in the direction where EJ had disappeared.

“Not even close.” Ashlyn told him as the bell rang.

“Yeah, practically the whole school believes you’re dating for real.” Carlos informed him, standing up.

“What?” Ricky asked flatly. “No.” How had his life turned into this mess? And more importantly, how did this happen? No one outside of their lunch table knew they were going to be fake dating on Thursday night.

“Seriously, Ricky, one kid in my math class was talking about crashing your date yesterday.” Gina nodded as they walked towards the stairs.

“Yesterday?” Ricky asked, dumbly. Then it clicked. Milkshakes. He groaned. “He wouldn’t happen to be on the water polo team, would he?”

“Yeah, his name’s Kevin. Nice guy.” Gina confirmed. “He seemed really happy for EJ and was telling anyone who’d listen about it.”

Well, shit.

“I—” Ricky started then something else clicked into place, “is that why people have been staring at me?” he wondered.

“Probably,” Gina nodded. “It’s not every day a skater starts dating the captain of the water polo team.”

“Co-captain.” Ricky muttered, his brain whirring, trying to make sense of this. How had things gotten so out of hand?

“Hey,” Gina nudged him, and he looked at her. They stopped walking. “Don’t stress about this too much, okay? It’s high school gossip. It’ll be old news by tomorrow, and you’ve got dress rehearsal and opening night to focus on.”

And with that, she walked away, leaving Ricky freaking out alone in the hall.

It had taken him a class period and a half, but Ricky finally calmed down. Fortunately, one of the classes was his shop class with Big Red, who had listened to Ricky freak out for most of the period before stopping him in his tracks with a pointed look and a single question: “If you don’t like EJ like that, then why are you so upset?”

Which was, unfortunately for Ricky, a completely valid question. If the whole school had been talking about him dating anyone else, Ricky would have laughed it off. It would have been a little embarrassing, sure, but he wouldn’t be this bent out of shape about it.

_So why was EJ different?_ he wondered.

_Because he’s EJ._

Because he’s EJ and Ricky wished…Ricky didn’t know what he wished.

Well, he did but he was afraid to admit it because it would change everything. It would make the whole fake dating thing harder and weirder and also potentially ruin the friendship they literally just created.

He needed to talk to someone. Not Nini, because it’d be too weird. Big Red was out because while he thought his friend would understand, Big Red had already spent a good chunk of time today listening to Ricky talk about his problems and Ricky didn’t want to over-do it. EJ was out too because _duh_.

Next on his list was Gina.

The moment he thought about it, he wasn’t sure why Gina wasn’t the first person on his list. She knew both of them pretty well and she would be real with him.

The problem was finding a time to talk to Gina. They didn’t have any classes together and his free hour between school and rehearsal was already taken (EJ wanted to go to an Italian place today). And during rehearsal wasn’t ideal because… she was Belle and he was Lumiere and if one of them wasn’t on stage, the other probably was.

Fortunately for Ricky, one of the fake deer heads in the tavern set fell off in the middle of _Gaston_ causing Miss Jenn to stop the show (after the song finished) to assess the damage and fix it.

Ricky found Gina sitting in the audience, in her blue Belle dress, watching while Miss Jenn, Big Red and Natalie Bagley tried to remount the deer head.

He sat next to her and cleared his throat to get her attention.

“I have a problem.” Ricky started.

“Just one?” Gina quipped, quirking an eyebrow at him.

  
Ricky gave her an unimpressed look and she grinned, motioning for him to continue.

“I like EJ.” He admitted quietly.

“Congratulations!” Gina smiled. “You’re officially the last to know.”

She wasn’t getting it. Obviously, everyone knew they were friends, with apparently, a not insignificant part of the school thinking they were dating. He even had some of the water polo team that he’d never met acknowledge him in the hall. Which had been weird, but also off topic.

“No,” Ricky leaned forward. “I mean, like I _like_ like him. Like I have a crush on him.”

“Yeah, no, I got that.” Gina nodded. “You are not subtle. And neither is lover boy.”

“What?” Ricky asked dumbly. It was liked all the air had been sucked out of the room.

“Ricky, the cast is making bets on who makes the first move.” Gina told him matter-of-factly.

“What? Why?!” Ricky looked around the room, like he was going to find a giant sign that said, “place your bets here!”. (He didn’t).

“Why?” Gina repeated. “Because you two are the human equivalent of the heart-eyes emoji and about as subtle as a punch to the face.”

“I—well that’s descriptive” Ricky sat back, his head spinning. He wasn’t sure if it was due to what Gina had just said or because the lights of the theater were flashing.

“So, what made you finally come to your senses?” Gina asked after a moment.

Ricky took a deep breath and gave her the rundown on the last few days with EJ. From agreeing to be his fake boyfriend, to rides to school, and lots of free food. As well as their heart-to-heart conversations and all the times he’s been sure EJ was flirting with him. And apparently now the school thinking they’re together.

Given it had only been happening for a few days, Ricky had a lot to say about how his feelings had changed in the last week.

_Could feelings change so quickly?_ He wondered, or _was this always there, beneath the surface, waiting for the right time to appear?_

“So, let me get this straight: EJ has agreed to be your fake boyfriend to annoy your mom’s boyfriend – which he did really well at given the whole school now thinks you’re dating for real and your mom’s boyfriend isn’t even in town yet.” Gina gave him a pointed look which Ricky ignored. “He’s been giving you rides to school, feeding you at every opportunity, actively flirting with you, texts you to let you know he’s made it home safe, and saying things like “it’s a date”, and you’re unclear on what, exactly?”

“Does he like me?” Ricky asked earnestly. “Do I have a shot?”

“How more obvious can he be?” Gina asked, incredulous. “What do you want him to do – yell it from the rooftops?”

“That would be nice, yes.” Ricky nodded.

“You are the world’s biggest dumbass.” Gina said plainly as Miss Jenn called for them on stage to pick up where they left off.


	2. Part Two - The Dinner

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part 2! I'm so glad you all liked Part 1! I was blown away by the response it got. Made me want to write even more fic for these two!!

Thursday mostly passed in a blur, with Ricky focused on the dinner that he was sure would be nothing short of a disaster.

Since they didn’t have rehearsal after school, EJ gave Ricky a ride home, dropping him off with the promise that he’d be back after he changed.

( _“You don’t have to change. This isn’t formal or anything.” Ricky had told him._

_“If I’m meeting someone’s parents as their boyfriend, fake or not, I’m putting my best foot forward.” EJ informed him. “If they don’t like me, it won’t be because I didn’t put effort in.”_

_“Just don’t show up in a tie or something, okay?” Ricky relented.)_

Ricky tried to pass time by doing homework or helping his dad cook dinner, roast chicken with mashed potatoes and green beans. Mike had come a long way since Lynne moved out, even taking some cooking classes to make sure that he and Ricky ate things other than hot wings and take out. He wasn’t going to be winning any contests, but Mike Bowen had proved himself not completely inept in the kitchen.

Ricky was so focused on trimming the green beans that he didn’t feel his phone buzz or hear the knock on the door.

“Ricky! EJ’s here!” His dad called from the front door, snapping him out of his thoughts.

He dashed to the entry way to see EJ shaking hands with his dad. 

“Hey,” He said lamely, his face flaming. EJ had changed clothes but hadn’t gone over the top with it. EJ was in something similar to what he had worn to Ashlyn’s for Thanksgiving. _He looked good_ , Ricky noted.

“Hey!” EJ said, shrugging off his jacket. “You didn’t get my text?”

“No, I was distracted.” Ricky admitted. EJ nodded and walked over to him, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

_Right._ Ricky thought, _because that’s what boyfriends do._

They made their way into the kitchen, EJ helping Ricky finish the green beans. The three of them made easy conversation and Ricky wished _this_ could have been the family dinner, without his mom and Todd, who should be arriving any minute.

“Dad, it’s not too late to invite one of Nini’s moms over for moral support.” Ricky muttered to his dad as they stood over the stove.

“Thanks Rick, but I actually invited someone else.” Mike revealed, looking a little sheepish. “Jennifer is just running a little late.”

“Jennifer?” Ricky looked at his dad. “My drama teacher?”

“Yeah, you said you didn’t have rehearsal tonight because Mr. Mazzara was doing a run-through with the tech crew, so I figured she must be free and could use a break and a decent meal” He shrugged. “That’s okay, right?”

“Yeah!” Ricky replied, “just a little surprised is all.”

“Yeah, me too.” Mike admitted. “I can’t believe she agreed.”

It was nice to see his dad so happy and excited, especially since a dinner with his ex-wife and her new boyfriend surely wasn’t on his list of preferred ways to spend an evening.

He walked over to where EJ stood, looking a little out of place. Ricky suddenly realized EJ had never actually been inside the Bowen house before.

“Want a tour?” He asked.

EJ glanced at him. “Sure.”

Ricky gave him a very brief description of the main floor, since that was where they currently were and EJ had already seen most of it. They were halfway up the stairs when the front door opened, and his mother walked through.

He spun around and dashed back down the stairs.

“Mom!” Ricky smiled, running up to her and giving her a hug. Every time he saw her, it was like he was eight years old again, coming home from sleepaway camp for the first time.

“Sweetie!” She beamed as she hugged him. “I missed you!”

He felt EJ walk up next to him as he and his mom broke apart.

“Ricky, sweetie, you remember Todd,” Lynne beckoned Todd forward. He reached out his hand and Ricky shook it, muttering a hello. He noticed his mom eyeing EJ. 

_Showtime_ , he thought.

“This is EJ,” Ricky put an arm around EJ, pulling him forward and bracing himself for what could follow his next words, “my boyfriend.”

“Hi! It’s great to meet you.” EJ smiled, sticking his hand out to shake. “Ricky’s told me a lot about you.”

“Ricky…” His mom shot him a look as Todd slowly shook EJ’s hand.

“I just thought since you wanted me to get to know your boyfriend, you could get to know mine, too.” Ricky said smiling, like he wasn’t freaking out inside.

“Boyfriend?” Todd frowned, giving Ricky and EJ a once-over. EJ took Ricky’s hand and gave it a squeeze. The contact was like an anchor, helping Ricky focus on his breathing.

Before anything else could be said, Mike stuck his head out of the kitchen.

“I thought I heard voices!” He laughed, walking out and giving Lynne a hug. “It’s good to see you! Todd, nice to see you again.” He shook Todd’s hand, seemingly oblivious to the tension in the room. “Dinner’s almost ready so make yourselves at home. Would you like anything to drink?”

The group migrated into the kitchen as Mike asked Lynne and Todd about work. Lynne stared at Ricky and EJ with a tight expression. Ricky and EJ ended up leaning against the counter, watching the adults. Ricky had his arms crossed and EJ’s were braced on the counter behind him, one behind Ricky.

“So, Ricky,” Lynne turned to the pair, giving Ricky her “mom” look. “I didn’t realize you were dating anyone. How long have you two been together?”

“Just a few weeks,” Ricky shrugged. “It’s still pretty new.”

“But serious enough that you brought him to a family dinner.” She stated a little sharply. Ricky felt EJ tense next to him.

“Lynne,” Mike cut in. “I told him he could invite whoever he wanted. “Family” is a pretty loose term these days, anyway. We’ll still have a great dinner.”

Lynne pursed her lips but seemed to concede.

“How—uh—how did you meet?” Todd asked, gesturing to Ricky and EJ.

“Drama club,” EJ said. “We were Troy and Chad in High School Musical and this semester, we’re Lumiere and Beast.”

“I thought you looked familiar!” Todd nodded at EJ. Then he frowned again, looking vaguely uncomfortable. “I suppose theater is a good place to meet…. like-minded people. You know…” he gestured to the two of them again and Ricky took a deep breath. 

“Most clubs are.” EJ said. Ricky could tell he was trying not to sound as snarky as he normally would have. “It’s kind of the point.”

The sound of the door opening stopped any retort Todd or Lynne could have wanted to make.

“Hello?” Miss Jenn stuck her head in the kitchen. “So sorry I’m late!”

“Jennifer!” Mike beamed, walking towards her. “Don’t worry about it! We were just getting acquainted!”

They hugged, which was weird for Ricky, but still not the weirdest thing he’d dealt with so far tonight.

Mike went around introducing Miss Jenn to Todd and Lynne before turning to where he and EJ stood.

“And then, you know Ricky and his boyfriend, EJ, of course.”

Okay, that was something they had not planned for. EJ shot Ricky a quick look and it was clear they were both thinking the same thing: Is Miss Jenn about to blow this?

“Of course!” she beamed at them, apparently not even phased. “You know, when Carlos told me you two were together, I couldn’t believe I didn’t see it sooner!”  
  


Wait, what?

A glance at EJ told Ricky that he was thinking the same thing, but it wasn’t like they could discuss it now. EJ just shrugged and pulled Ricky to him, a gesture that shouldn’t have been as comforting to Ricky as it was.

A timer went off and Mike hurried to pull the chicken out of the oven and just like that, the adults seemed to scatter. Todd going to the bathroom while Lynne made sure the table was set and Jenn helped Mike.

Ricky took the opportunity to go into the living room and sat on the couch for a moment to collect himself. EJ flopped down on the couch next to Ricky. In a swift motion, he grabbed a pillow and _thumped_ it into Ricky’s chest. Ricky huffed, but his arms immediately wrapped around the pillow, pulling it closer to him.

EJ shifted closer to Ricky.

“You good?” EJ asked him, softly so the adults couldn’t hear.

“Does it matter?” Ricky asked bitterly. “This is still happening.”

“Hey, it matters.” EJ turned to him, face gentle and putting a hand on Ricky’s knee. “Just say the word and we’re out of here, okay? And you can come stay with me till your mom and Terrible Todd go back to Chicago, alright?”

Ricky swallowed, trying not to focus on EJ’s hand, which was rubbing soothing circles on his knee. “You should leave the nicknames to me.” He said thickly. “But thanks. I’ll let you know.”

They only got a few moments of peace before Mike called them to the table. There was a flurry of activity as everyone took their seats and loaded their plates.

“I noticed you’ve rearranged the kitchen.” Lynne said once they had all settled. “I went looking for the plates and found glasses instead.”

Ricky tensed and glanced at his dad, worried. Her voice was the same tone that used to mean a fight was coming. Weren’t they supposed to be past this?

“Yeah,” Mike nodded slowly. “Once I started doing more cooking, it just sort of happened.”

“Are you boys excited for opening night?” Miss Jenn asked Ricky and EJ, clearly trying to change the subject.

“Oh yeah!” Ricky said quickly, throwing Miss Jenn a thankful smile. “I didn’t get to be in the big showstopper last semester, so I’m really looking forward to being in this one.”

“’Being in it’ – I think you mean ‘leading it,’” EJ smiled. “Without Lumiere, the whole song kind of falls apart.”

Ricky ducked his head, but it was true – Carlos and Miss Jenn had decided that _Be Our Guest_ was going to be the number that brought people to their feet. Ricky had never worked harder in his life than he did learning the choreography. It was about ten minutes of Ricky running around stage, jumping on things, and generally having a great time.

“And you’re playing the Beast?” Todd asked EJ. “That’s pretty impressive.” He said when EJ nodded in confirmation.

“Ricky was telling me EJ has a pretty impressive resume, in general,” Mike added, cutting into his food. “He’s also co-captain of the water polo team and senior class treasurer.”

EJ shot Ricky a look, and Ricky shrugged in response. He had no memory of ever telling his dad that. He wasn’t even sure when “who is the treasurer of the senior class” would have come up.

“Oh, you’re a senior?” Todd asked, looking interested. “Any idea where you’ll be going to college?”

“Umm, yeah, actually,” EJ nodded, glancing at Ricky. “It’s mostly between NYU and Utah.”

“Those are pretty different.” Lynne observed to which EJ nodded before elaborating:

“Yeah, well, Utah is offering me a full ride for water polo and then NYU’s business school is outstanding.”

“NYU also has a pretty great drama department, EJ.” Miss Jenn gave him a knowing look.

EJ looked sheepish. “I am planning on minoring in theater, Miss Jenn. Don’t worry.”

Mike asked EJ another question about his future, which EJ answered with ease. And then dinner continued, idle conversation flowing with relative ease, though Ricky largely stayed quiet. He wasn’t the type for direct confrontation, so it was harder than he thought it would be to engage in any conversation, especially with Todd (and his mom).

Ricky finally spoke, teasingly asking Miss Jenn what her real last name was. Mike and EJ laughed as she deflected the question without heat.

“Ricky, you’re being rude.” His mom cut in.

He stared at her, dumbfounded. “I thought this dinner was about getting to know each other,” he tried to joke but it fell flat.

“And yet, you haven’t asked Todd a single question,” Lynne said to Ricky, acid dropping from every word.

“He hasn’t asked me anything either!” Ricky defended, knowing he was sounding like a child, but how else do you sound when you argue with a parent?

“Well maybe that’s because you’ve gone out of your way to make him feel uncomfortable.” Lynne shot a pointed glance towards EJ, and Ricky felt his anger start rising.

“I’m fine—” Todd tried to interject.

“I asked you for one thing, Ricky.” Lynne looked close to tears and Ricky knew he was. “And you went out of your way to not do it. When did you become this selfish?”

“He is not selfish –” EJ tried to cut in angrily, but he drowned out by Ricky.

“I’M the selfish one? How? How am I the selfish one?” Ricky stood up, throwing his napkin down on the table. “You LEFT me! You could have stayed here after the divorce, but you ran to Chicago. And you only come back when it works for you.”

“That’s not fair!” Lynne stood up too. “My job was in Chicago! And I’ve come back for your shows!”

“You came back to surprise Todd on me.” Ricky was getting louder. “You came back this time to finalize the divorce, have me ‘get to know Todd’, and, oh yeah, also see the show.”

“Well,” Lynne pursed her lips, lowered her voice, and Ricky _knew_ she was about to deliver the fatal blow of her argument. “Maybe I would come back more often if you didn’t insist on parading your _lifestyle phase_ around.” She gestured absently in EJ’s direction.

Ricky’s blood was boiling. He was too upset to even be surprised by the revelation that it wasn’t _Todd_ who had an issue with Ricky’s bisexuality, but _Lynne_ using Todd as an excuse.

He should have known.

_Fuck, he should have known._

Hadn’t he, though? Hadn’t he known and just refused to see it?

When he came out to her, her response had been, “okay, sweetie” before getting off the phone. He’d tried to pretend it was because it was just a shock to her and because she’d been busy at work. But it wasn’t. It had been because she disapproved. Thought it was “just a phase”.

_Fuck_.

He’d been so stupid.

Naïve to think that all of this was just because she wanted him to get along with her boyfriend, when he was just a convenient scapegoat.

But wasn’t that what Ricky had been doing too? Using Todd as a way of getting out his anger that was really directed at his mother?

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his dad stand up. “Lynne, I think it’s time you leave.”

“Fine,” she nodded. Todd stood too and they made their way towards the door. “We’ll see you tomorrow for the show.”

“No.” Ricky said.

She turned back to him, looking shocked. “Ricky…”

“No,” He said again, firmly. “I don’t want you there. Not unless you’re there to support _all_ of me.”

She nodded tersely before heading towards the door. Todd gave him an apologetic smile before following after her.

Ricky collapsed in his seat, his head in his hands. Almost instantly, EJ’s hand was on his back.

He heard Miss Jenn say something quietly and the sound of dishes being picked up before there was another moment of silence and EJ’s hand disappeared and he could hear the other boy getting up and leaving the room. Ricky slowly looked up from his hands.

His dad was still standing, looking at him with concern. “Do you want to explain to me what just happened?” he asked softly.

“What—what do you mean?” Ricky stuttered nervously. He knew full well what his dad was asking about because _duh_ but hoped playing dumb would buy him another few seconds to come up with something to say.

“Ricky, I think we both know that dinner was nothing short of a disaster for reasons that I did not expect.” Mike said evenly. “I’m not mad – at you. I just want to know if there’s a particular reason you disinvited your mom from the musical.”

“Mom asked me not to tell Todd I’m bi.” Ricky blurted. The moment he said it, it was like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. Then, it was like he couldn’t stop himself from going on. “She said Todd’s not really “a fan” of LGBT stuff and wanted us to get along so she’d appreciate if I just didn’t mention that I was bi.”

“What?” Mike looked stricken.

“But clearly, it’s really her with the problem.” Ricky gave a bitter laugh, standing again. He was filled with nervous energy and couldn’t be still any longer. “I didn’t want to see it, I guess. But when she asked, something kinda snapped? And I brought EJ to… help make a point, I guess.” He shrugged.

“What point is that?” His dad asked quietly, moving closer to him.

“That I’m not going to hide who I am for her. I tried.” Ricky’s eyes were full of tears and he was trying not to blink, knowing that would send them falling. “but I meant what I said – she can come if she’s there to support all of me, not just part of me. Does—does that make me selfish?”

“Absolutely not,” Mike told him firmly, pulling Ricky in for a hug. They stood in silence for a minute as Ricky tried to get his breathing under control.

Then Mike pulled away and looked Ricky in the eye. “Ricky, it’s not for you to make it okay for your mom. It’s something as a parent she has to deal with, okay?” His dad put his hand on his shoulder and looked at him seriously. “When your kid is born, you have this image of who you think they’ll be and part of being a parent is adjusting your expectations to who your kid ends up becoming. I’ve done it tons with you. Like when you said you didn’t want to be a contractor. Or when you auditioned for the school musical. Your job is to learn who you are, and my job is to love you no matter what. And truth be told, Ricky, you’ve made that pretty easy. I am so proud of you, son.”

They hugged again, this time breaking apart because of a noise from the door to the kitchen.

“Are you alright, EJ?” Mike asked, turning to the boy, who was lurking in the doorway. Ricky had almost forgotten he was there. He turned to look and saw that EJ’s eyes were bright.

He cleared his throat and nodded jerkily. “Yeah, yeah I’m good.” EJ ducked his head and started speaking to the floor. “I didn’t mean to interrupt. It was just a nice moment and I don’t think my dad has ever said that much to me at once.”

Mike’s hand dropped from Ricky’s arm and he took a few steps towards EJ, cautiously, like he was afraid EJ might bolt if Mike made any sudden moves.

“I’m sorry to hear that, EJ.” Mike said softly. “I know I don’t know you very well, but from what I know and what I’ve seen, the way you stood up for Ricky, your dad has a lot to be proud of, and I’m proud of you too.”

“Thanks, Mr. Bowen.” EJ swallowed hard, his eyes threatening to spill over with tears. “That means a lot.”

“Call me Mike,” he pulled EJ in for a hug.

Things calmed down after that. Miss Jenn left pretty quickly, wanting to get back to East High to make sure the tech rehearsal was going well. EJ helped clear the table and do dishes. And before long, there was no reason for EJ to stick around anymore.

Ricky walked him out to his car, silently, not sure what to say. They reached the car and EJ turned to face him.

He didn’t know what came over him, but before he could stop himself, Ricky had wrapped his arms around EJ, burying his head in the other boy’s chest. “I am so sorry.”

EJ’s arms circled him, pulling him closer. “Don’t be.” He said softly, rubbing Ricky’s back again. “Is it weird if I say I’m glad I was here?”

“No,” Ricky said thickly. “Because I’m glad you were here too.”

They broke apart after a moment and EJ spoke again. “For what it’s worth, I’m proud of you too.”

Ricky snorted. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.” EJ confirmed. “It’s not easy to stand up to your parents. Trust me – I’ve never done it nearly as well as you just did.”

“I’m not sure that qualifies as “well”, but…” Ricky shrugged.

“Well, in any case, I’ve never gotten my point across that well.” EJ took a slight step back. “I mean, it’s been years and I still can’t manage to tell them I like boys…”

Ricky’s eyes shot to EJ’s. Of course, he already knew that, but still, he couldn’t help the thrill that went through him whenever he was reminded that there was a chance EJ might like him. Plus, any time EJ mentioned his parents was significant.

“Yeah?” Ricky asked quietly, not sure how to indicate he wanted EJ to keep going without feeling like he was being nosey.

  
But apparently that was the correct thing to say because EJ continued: “They’re not like… homophobic but… there’s a certain amount of “othering” they do, you know?” EJ huffed out a breath. “It’s fine for other people, but would that apply to someone in their family? Coming out to them would be like coming out to two strangers, who I depend on for food, shelter and stuff. Part of me wants to get it over with but the rest of me… I want to wait till I’m out of their house. Till I’m not dependent on them anymore and it doesn’t matter what they say.”

“Which is why you’re thinking about going to Utah,” Ricky realized. A full scholarship to a state school meant not needing his parents to pay for school. And Salt Lake City was certainly a lot cheaper to live in than New York City.

“Yeah,” EJ nodded. “It’s complicated, but also not what’s important right now. Are you okay?”

“No,” Ricky said honestly. “But I will be.”

“I should get going, but I’ll come get you tomorrow?” EJ looked at him.

Ricky nodded. “Text me when you get home.” He said, because that was a Thing now and he might as well lean into it.

Before he could blink, EJ leaned forward and gave Ricky a quick kiss on the cheek before jumping in his car and pulling away.

\--

Ricky was exhausted the next morning. He and his dad had stayed up late, eating ice cream and talking while pretending to watch a baseball game, and then even when he tried to go to sleep, it seemed beyond his reach for most of the night.

His morning ride to school with EJ was pretty subdued. EJ drove while Ricky ate his breakfast and _The Little Mermaid_ played quietly in the background.

“Our call time isn’t till six today,” EJ said as they walked towards the school. “Why don’t you see if you can crash in Miss Jenn’s office? Or I can take you home and you can sleep?”

“But food” Ricky argued, too tired to come up with much more than that.

“I’ll take care of the food,” EJ promised, smiling softly. “But you need to rest. You’re dead on your feet… which are also in two different shoes.”

Ricky groaned, looking down at his feet. Sure enough, he had on one blue Van and one green Van.

“Perfect.” He muttered. “Just perfect.”

\--

The big success of Ricky’s morning was that he didn’t fall asleep in his classes. He had to admit that EJ’s idea of taking a nap before their call time was looking better and better. Part of him had hoped that he would get a text or a call from his mom this morning, apologizing.

But he didn’t get one.

His dad had told him not to expect anything today (“she needs time to cool down”), but he couldn’t help but hope.

Only when lunch came around did he finally manage to put it from his mind, to focus on more pressing issues:

“Carlos, you told Miss Jenn EJ and I were dating?” Ricky asked as soon as he sat down.

“I did.” Carlos confirmed unapologetically. “She wanted to know why EJ was going to be at the Bowen family dinner from Hell and I went with it.”

“Speaking of,” Nini looked at him and EJ. “How was the Bowen family dinner from Hell?”

“It was hell,” Ricky said shortly. Then he sighed and continued. “I am no longer on speaking terms with my mom.”

The table erupted:

“What?”

“Are you okay?”

“What happened?”

  
  
“Oh, God, Ricky, I’m so sorry!”

“Turns out she’s the asshole, not Todd.” Ricky shrugged when they quieted down. “But it’s fine. Who needs moms anyway?”

“Well, I’ve got two, if you ever need to borrow one.” Nini gave him an understanding smile, which he returned.

Mercifully, Ashlyn changed the subject, to tonight’s performance, a topic the entire table was quickly engrossed in.

Ricky watched them all for a moment, struck by how lucky he was to have these people in his life.

\--

EJ drove Ricky straight home after school, with the promise to pick him back up, at 5:45, with food. Ricky stumbled into his house, set an alarm on his phone for 5:40, and collapsed on the couch.

The next thing he knew, his phone alarm was blaring at him and he had a text from EJ. Ricky sat up, blinking, still groggy, but feeling better. He grabbed his stuff and headed towards the door.

EJ was in his car, as promised, with two large bags of take out.

“You remember when I made fun of you for always giving me food?” Ricky asked, rummaging through the bags.

“I do” EJ confirmed, watching him.

“Never stop.” He said, stuffing a spring roll into his mouth.

\--

The theater and dressing rooms of East High were a flurry of activity and nervous energy. They were among the last to arrive and found Miss Jenn, clipboard in hand, triple checking everything.

She smiled when she saw them, then looked at Ricky.

“Ricky, how are you today?” Miss Jenn asked, looking at him with concern written all over her face.

“I’ve been better,” Ricky told her. She had been there for the fight the previous night so there was no point trying to sugar-coat anything, but he wasn’t above trying to deflect. “But I’ve also been worse. As long as Prince Adam finds love before the last petal falls and I’m not stuck as a candelabra forever, I’ll be fine.”

Miss Jenn paused for a moment before saying: “you worry me, Ricky.”

“I worry a lot of people, Miss Jenn.” Ricky shrugged. “It’s part of my charm.”

EJ snorted.

“EJ,” Miss Jenn locked eyes with the senior and pointed to Ricky. “Watch him please.”

EJ nodded before grabbing Ricky’s arm and dragging him into the dressing room.

“Well played.” EJ told him.

Ricky grinned.

\--

The show went off without a hitch. Given that High School Musical had seemed to have nothing _but_ hitches, part of Ricky kept waiting for the other shoe to fall. For _something_ to happen to cause chaos and potentially ruin the production.

But nothing did.

They took their final bows, and Ricky was running on pure adrenaline and euphoria.

The curtains closed and the cast joined in for a massive, celebratory group hug, laughing and enjoying the moment. He looked over at EJ and saw tears in the senior’s eyes.

“EJ, are you okay?” Nini asked him as the big group hug broke into smaller group hugs. She had her arms around Seb and Gina.

“Yeah,” EJ nodded, smiling and wiping at his eyes. “I’m just really going to miss this. And all of you.”

“Elton John Caswell, are you emoting?” Carlos asked, also smiling, breaking from his hug with Ashlyn and Big Red.

“You know what? Never mind.” EJ laughed. “I can’t wait to leave you all.”

The group walked towards the dressing rooms, arms around each other and walking on air.

“Cast party at my house!” Ashlyn announced as they walked in the dressing rooms. The announcement was met with a cacophony of cheers.

The group dispersed even more to different corners of the dressing rooms, taking off costumes, putting props away, and scrubbing their faces with makeup wipes.

The energy was still flowing, electric, and the chaotic room emptied fairly quickly, with different cast members rushing out to greet parents and friends who had come to see the show.

Ricky had seen his dad in the audience, sitting with Nini’s moms and grandmother, but he wasn’t in any rush to see him.

  
The room was dwindling down to just a couple of people, and Ricky again was left with the feeling that he didn’t want this to be over yet.

“Psst, EJ! Over here!” Ricky heard someone calling. He turned and saw Kevin from the water polo team standing in the doorway of the dressing room, beckoning EJ over. He was holding a large bouquet of flowers. It wasn’t as large as the arrangement Big Red had bought for Ashlyn, but still substantial.

Unfortunately for Kevin, his whispering wasn’t even soft enough to consider a “stage-whisper” so the entire room (which was now filled with about a third of the cast and crew) turned to look.

“Hey, Kevin, what’s up?” EJ asked as he approached. “You can come in.”

“Dude, I brought you flowers to give Ricky.” Kevin explained, offering the bouquet to EJ and glancing at Ricky, whose face was burning. “They’re peonies. My girlfriend likes them. She thinks they’re pretty.” The last part was directed at Ricky.

“They are pretty.” Ricky agreed, ignoring the look Gina was giving him.

Kevin looked pleased, then reached out and hit EJ on the arm. “Dude!” he jerked his head towards Ricky, clearly telling EJ to give Ricky the flowers. EJ sighed and tossed Ricky the flowers. He caught them easily, glancing at Gina, who was frowning at EJ.

“Cap, that’s no way to give your boyfriend flowers!” Kevin scolded EJ.

EJ sighed. “Kev, I’ve told you: we’re not dating.” The statement was technically true, but that didn’t stop Ricky from wincing.

“I can see why!” Kevin looked indignant. “I wouldn’t date you either if that’s how you gave me flowers.”

Gina snorted, which alerted Kevin to her presence as the only other one in the room. Ricky didn't notice when everyone else had left.

“Oh, hi, Gina!” Kevin waved. “you were really great as Belle!”

“Thanks, Kevin,” Gina smiled. She walked forward, throwing a look at Ricky before linking arms with Kevin.

“Did you come with your girlfriend? I’d love met her!” Gina told Kevin, guiding him to the door. Kevin’s enthusiastic response was lost on Ricky, who was now keenly aware that he and EJ were alone in the dressing room.

“You ready to head out?” EJ asked. For the first time, he looked apprehensive. Like he was holding back, but what Ricky couldn’t tell.

“Yeah!” Ricky nodded. “And, good news – since my mom’s the worst, we don’t have family dinner tonight, so I can come to Ashlyn’s party!”

“You don’t have to do that,” EJ told him, taking a step closer to Ricky.

“What? Come to the party?” Ricky asked.

“No, make jokes about your mom.” EJ clarified, taking another step. They were less than a foot apart now. “Or pretend it’s all fine. It’s okay to be upset.”

Ricky swallowed. He knew EJ was making good points and he was right, but it was hard to listen to anything EJ said when he was standing so close to him.

He nodded, his eyes flicking to EJ’s mouth, which seemed a lot closer than it was before.

_Is this really happening?_ Ricky thinks as they both lean in.

Then—

A noise by the door causes them to jump back.

“Oh, I’m so sorry!” Nini apologized, wide-eyed. “I didn’t mean to—I just—Ricky, your mom’s here? And she wants to talk to you.”

Ricky’s stomach plummeted. Of all the things that could ruin his moment with EJ, why did it have to be that?

“No.” EJ said firmly, crossing his arms. Nini looked taken aback.

“No?” Ricky asked, turning to look at him.

“No.” EJ repeated. Then he backtracked and his tone softened considerably. “I mean, obviously if you want to, it’s your call, but she already ruined this week for you, I don’t want her to ruin tonight too.”  
  


“She didn’t ruin this week,” Ricky said honestly. “She ruined yesterday, but it was still a pretty good week.” He hoped EJ would pick up on what Ricky was trying to say – that EJ was the reason the week had been good. Ricky couldn’t say it outright, because Nini was standing right there, and because he was Ricky and he couldn’t just _say_ things like that.

“But I do want to talk to her – just for a minute.” Ricky continued. “Then we’ll go to Ashlyn’s and celebrate your last show at East High, okay?”

EJ nodded, staring intently at Ricky. “If that’s what you want.”

“I—will you come?” Ricky asked after a second. “I want to talk to her, but I don’t think I can do it alone.”

“Of course.” EJ smiled at him. They grabbed their stuff and headed towards the door of the dressing room.

“Think you can handle being my fake boyfriend for a few more minute?” Ricky joked as they walked down the hall.

EJ grabbed his hand, intertwining their fingers. “I think I can manage.”

They entered the atrium where all the show-goers had congregated to greet the cast. It was still pretty crowded. He saw Gina and Kevin talking with another girl, who Ricky assumed was Kevin’s girlfriend.

“Ricky –” a familiar voice said from behind him. He turned to see his mother standing, looking nervously at him and EJ. “Can we talk?”

Ricky stiffened. Despite his previous conversation with EJ, everything in him wanted to say no. To let him have one night where he could just be happy.

But also knew that it had taken a lot for her to come here, and he saw his dad out of the corner of his eye, standing with Nini and her moms, all of them watching the trio carefully, and EJ’s hand was still in his, so no matter what came from this conversation, he was going to be okay.

So, he nodded.

He tightened his grip on EJ’s hand and walked over to a wall where they’d have a little more privacy.

“I was hoping to talk to you alone, Ricky.” His mom said timidly, glancing again at EJ.

“No,” Ricky shook his head. “I don’t want to be alone with you right now, so EJ stays.” He glanced at EJ, whose face was stony but caught his eye and gave a quick nod.

“Ricky – I’m sorry.” She began after a deep breath. “I’m sorry. It was wrong of me to ask you to hide part of yourself to make me more comfortable. I just – I’m having a hard time with—with you being –”

“Bi?” Ricky supplied, irritated that she couldn’t even say the word.

She nodded. “Yes. And truth be told, I don’t entirely know why it’s hard for me. I’ve been friends with the Salazar-Roberts for years with no problem.” She seemed to be working through something because she paused, and Ricky could almost see the gears turning in her head.

Ricky waited, to see if she had anything else to add.

“But my issues aren’t for you to deal with, and I shouldn’t have made you.” She continued after a moment. Lynne looked at him, tears in her eyes. “And I’m sorry I called you selfish. You are the furthest thing from it, Ricky, and I love you.”

Ricky took a deep breath. He felt better, after hearing his mom say all of that, but he was still mad. Still needed space from her.

“Thank you.” He said. “I appreciate that you came here and apologized. But I can’t forgive you just yet.” Her face fell, and Ricky felt a pang for being the one to cause pain, but he pushed through. “I don’t know how to forgive you. What you did – what you said – it really hurt and messed me up pretty good.”

“I’m sorry,” Lynne repeated, eyes filled with tears.

“I know.” Ricky nodded. “But it’s going to take some time and some work, before I can forgive you.”

“I understand.” Lynne gave him a watery smile. “Maybe this summer, I can come for a visit? Just me, just to visit you?”

“That sounds like a good place to start.” Ricky conceded. And it did. She was his mom. He didn’t _want_ to cut her out of his life, and if she was willing to put in the work and the effort, then he was willing to meet her halfway.

She smiled gratefully at him before taking a step back and turning to walk towards the door.

Ricky let out a huge breath and slumped into EJ’s side. EJ’s arm automatically wrapped itself around Ricky’s shoulders, catching him and pulling him into his chest.

“You okay?” EJ asked quietly.

“Yeah.” Ricky nodded against EJ’s shirt. “I feel a lot better, actually.”

“Good.” EJ gave him a squeeze before letting go. “You handled that really well.”

“Thanks!” Ricky gave a weak smile. “Looks like I’m not so bad at communication after all!”

“I don’t know if I’d go that far,” EJ smirked. “But come on, you’ve got to say hi to your dad and then Ashlyn’s party awaits.”

\---- 

EJ ended up giving other several theater kids (Nini, Gina, and Rico) a ride to Ashlyn’s house. Ricky decided to annoy EJ by stealing the aux chord and giving it to Gina, who was under strict instructions to only play songs from the Lion King.

  
EJ took the joke surprisingly well, only clenching his jaw a handful of times and eventually even joining the rest of the car in singing _Hakuna Matata_.

They were some of the last to arrive at Ashlyn’s, so the party was in full-swing by the time they walked through the door.

The difference between this cast party and the others that Ashlyn had thrown was that this one had more than 24 hours’ notice – people were stopping by all week to drop party things off so there was enough food and drink to last all weekend. Ashlyn had also opened the invitation to include non-theater friends of the theater kids who were invited, which more than doubled the number of people in attendance.

All the same, as EJ and Ricky wove their way through the crowd to the kitchen, Ricky saw Carlos setting up his High School Musical game in one corner while Big Red and Seb belted out a duet on the karaoke machine.

They hung out for a while, joking around and goofing off with their castmates and Ricky felt better than he had in weeks. He almost cracked a rib laughing at Gina and EJ singing _Anything You Can Do_ when it was their turn for karaoke.

He was having a great time.

But he couldn’t help but feel like EJ wasn’t.

He knew it wasn’t his responsibility to make sure EJ was having a good time, but… he watched EJ when EJ thought no one was looking and saw how anxious he looked. EJ would laugh and smile with the rest of them, but it wasn’t his real laugh and it wasn’t his real smile.

And while Ricky knew their time of pretending to be a couple was over, he still couldn’t help but be concerned for his friend.

He wanted to check in with the senior to make sure he was okay.

That’s what friends did, right?

Finally, he managed to get EJ relatively alone in the kitchen under the guise of getting a refill on his soda.

“Hey, are you okay?” Ricky asked quietly.

“I’m pretty sure that’s my line,” EJ quipped. “But yeah, I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?” Ricky searched his face looking for a sign either way. “Do you want to get some air?”

EJ paused for a moment, then nodded. “Yeah, let’s go into the backyard. I don’t think anyone’s out there.”

Ricky followed EJ though the back door and into the dark backyard. He led them to what Ricky could barely make out to be a picnic table. The lights from the house barely illuminated the pair, so at first all Ricky could see of EJ was his silhouette.

They sat on top of the table in silence for a few moments as their eyes adjusted to the dark.

“I’m not sure I ever really thanked you.” Ricky said, playing with the ring on his finger absently.

“Thanked me? For what?” EJ cocked his head.

“For a lot, actually,” Ricky conceded. “But mostly for agreeing to be my fake boyfriend. I don’t know how I could’ve made it through that dinner – or talking to her tonight — without you.”

“Hey, any time.” EJ bumped his shoulder. “I was happy to do it. And how are you, by the way, with how you and your mom left things?”

“God, I wish people would stop asking me that.” The words tumbled out of Ricky’s mouth before he even formed the thought. EJ looked at him and he continued. “It feels like I’m lying every time I say I’m okay, even though I know I mostly am okay. And even in the moments when I’m not okay, I can’t just say that.” Ricky paused. “How many times did I say ‘okay’ just then?”

“I lost count,” EJ said lightly. Then, “Why can’t you say you’re not okay?”

Ricky groaned and stood up from the table, starting to pace. “Because no one knows how to respond! I say I’m not okay, and people want to help but they don’t know how, and I don’t even know what I need so it’d just be a waste of time. And it’d be talking about my feelings and I hate that.”

“You’re doing pretty well right now,” EJ observed.

“It’s different,” Ricky waved him off. “It’s you.”

“Yeah?” EJ asked and Ricky could _hear_ the smile in his voice.

Realizing what he had just said, Ricky began to panic. “Yeah, you’re such a good friend! Like, we’ve become really close in the last few days, and over the semester, really. Honestly, you’re one of my best friends now.”

Ricky swears he can see EJ’s jaw clench and hear what Ricky thinks might be bitterness as EJ says, “Yeah, we are pretty good friends.”

Ricky Bowen doesn’t really _do_ awkward situations, so he again starts talking to try to salvage the situation. “But yeah, as for my mom, sure, she’s leaving again but that’s fine. She’s left before, so it’s cool – I’ve just got some abandonment issues I don’t want to work through because then _they’ll_ leave me too and it’s a whole thing.” Ricky said with a smirk.

“You’re doing it again,” EJ chided lightly. Ricky was relieved his babbling seemed to un-grump EJ a bit.

“It’s a defense mechanism.” Ricky shrugged. “Either I make jokes, or I literally run away, and Nini can tell you how well that goes for me.”

“I suppose I’ll just be glad you’re not running.” EJ looked at him. His tone was heavy, but not in a bad way.

Now Ricky was panicking again but for a different reason. He was silent for a few moments before the panic started bubbling out of him and he needed to break the silence before he said something he would regret.

“How are you doing?” Ricky asked, staring into the backyard. He couldn’t see anything, except maybe the outline of a tree, but looking into a dark void seemed safer than looking at EJ right now.

“Like I’m not ready for this to be over.” EJ took a deep breath.

“I get that,” Ricky nodded. “I mean, I’ve only done drama for a year, so it’s not quite the same but—”

“No, you don’t get it.” EJ cut him off sharply.

Ricky’s mouth snapped shut. EJ hadn’t spoken to him with that much anger in his voice in months. Ricky was feeling a little whiplash from EJ’s sudden change in demeanor.

“Sorry,” Ricky said timidly, not wanting to make it worse. “I didn’t mean to—”

“I mean how could you get it?” EJ continued, jumping up from the picnic table. “I’m trying to actually _feel_ things for once and have _emotions_ and all _you_ do is make a joke and act like nothing happened. And I’ve tried to not say anything, okay? I really have, because you’re going through a lot and I didn’t want to add to it but you’re sitting there talking about your feelings and about how we’re _friends._ Have you ever considered I don’t want to be _friends?_ ” He was practically yelling by the end of his tirade and Ricky was fighting back tears, not sure where this was coming from. Things had been going so well. How had Ricky managed to fuck up so badly so fast? It was just like Nini all over again.

“Fine! Fuck you! We don’t have to be friends!” Ricky faced off against EJ, matching his tone and wishing he was just an inch or so taller to really be able to stand eye-to-eye with him.

“No! That’s not what I’m saying!” EJ was exasperated. He looked up at the sky and yelled “FUCK!”

“WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM” Ricky yelled, deeply confused by this entire conversation and turn of events.

“MY PROBLEM IS I WANT TO DATE YOU FOR REAL, ASSHOLE!” EJ yelled back, throwing his hands in the air.

“…what?” Ricky stared at him, not quite believing his ears. EJ looked panicked, like he hadn’t mean to just admit that.

“Well, shit.” He muttered, running a hand through his hair.

Then he started singing: “I will never let you let me leave! I promise I'm not lying. Go ahead ask anybody who has seen me trying, I'm not going!”

“What the fuck?” Ricky said softly, but EJ didn’t seem to hear him, continuing on with his song.

“Such a stubborn man. You'll likely never meet another. When we have our family dinner, you can ask my mother - she's the best” EJ rolled his eyes, then jumped up on top of the picnic table. “I'm gonna do this right! Show you I'm not moving. Wherever you go, I won't be far to follow. I'm gonna love you so. You'll learn what I already know: I love you means you're never, ever, ever getting rid of me—”

“EJ!” Ricky cut him off loudly. Ricky wasn’t sure he could take much more of whatever that was. EJ, thankfully, stopped singing and looked Ricky expectantly. “What was that?”

“That was Never Ever Getting Rid of Me from Waitress.” EJ said as if that explained whatever the hell had just happened.

“Great.” Ricky said shortly. “Why did you start singing it, though?”

“I panicked,” EJ hopped down from the picnic table.

“You panicked,” Ricky repeated. “So, you started singing?”

“My feelings, yeah,” EJ nodded. He was starting to look a bit nervous.

“Can people stop telling me how they feel about me in song?” Ricky wondered. “I don’t handle it well.”

“Clearly.” EJ agreed. “Since I just yelled that I want to date you, sang you half a song about how committed I am, and you’ve said nothing.”

“I’m sorry – I’m still trying to wrap my head around what just happened” Ricky admitted. “You went from yelling at me to singing which is kind of—”

“Mixed signals.” EJ nodded. “Yeah, I’m sorry. That wasn’t how I wanted to tell you. I just – you kept calling me your _friend_ and telling me what a good _friend_ I am and I kinda —snapped…”

Ricky nodded dumbly for a second, his brain still playing catch-up. Then, on pure impulse, he reached out and grabbed EJ’s jacket, jerking him closer before crashing his lips against EJ’s.

Ricky had only ever kissed one boy before – in a game of spin the bottle at a party back in freshman year – and this was completely different than the quick, awkward peck that had been.

This was electric.

If Ricky had thought he felt alive from the post-show high he was on, that was nothing compared to kissing EJ. It started off a little awkward and clumsy, as EJ found his footing. But it got better and better. EJ’s arm wrapped around Ricky’s waist, pulling him closer, while one hand cupped his face. Ricky still had one hand firmly grasped on EJ’s jacket and the other on the back of EJ’s neck.

Finally, and only because his lungs were burning, Ricky pulled back, breaking the kiss.

“I want to date you for real too.” Ricky said quietly, catching his breath.

“Oh, thank God!” EJ sighed. “I was going to be so upset if that was a kiss as ‘friends’.”

Ricky was affronted. “Hey, I’m an idiot, but I’m not _that_ much of an idiot!”

“Ricky, I’ve been flirting with you all semester.” EJ said exasperatedly. “And you didn’t notice. Like at all.”

“I—what?” Ricky was stunned. He started going back over the last semester, trying to see where EJ had been flirting with him.

“Yeah,” EJ nodded. “I tried to be subtle; asking if you wanted to hang out after school or watch a movie and you were so oblivious, I thought for sure you were just trying to let me down easy.”

“No.” Ricky shook his head. “There’s no way. I would’ve remembered. Or said yes!”

“You did say yes, a couple of times.” EJ agreed. “But you also misunderstood and thought it was a group hangout and ended up inviting our whole friend group.”

“I did?” Ricky grimaced. Vaguely in the back of his head, he did remember a couple of weird invitations from EJ to movie nights or bowling. But they always coincided with being after different drama club events, so Ricky had assumed they were _for_ the drama club. “I did.” Ricky sighed.

_Fuck, he was an idiot._

“I thought there was no way someone could be that oblivious but Nini and Gina kept telling me you had no idea and I needed to be more obvious.” EJ smiled fondly at him and Ricky wanted to die.

Apparently, they’d both been going to Gina and Nini for advice. He owed both of them a thank you, an apology, and some sort of gift basket.

“I was about to give up all together,” EJ continued. “But you needed a pretend boyfriend and I couldn’t help myself.”

“Gina was right: I am the world’s biggest idiot.” Ricky said. EJ snorted. “But I’ll make it up to you!”

“Yeah?” EJ’s mouth twitched. “How are you going to do that?”

“So, I’ve got like…three? months of being your boyfriend to make up for?” Ricky tried to do the math in his head. “Three-ish months of dates, hanging out, _making out_ and other coupley stuff – gotta make up for lost time right?”

“Sure,” EJ nodded. His hands shifted so they were both now on Ricky’s hips.

“Well, I propose,” Ricky started dramatically, “that we start now, making up for the three months of kisses.”

EJ smiled coyly. “And what if I say it’s more like four months?”

“Then we _definitely_ have to start now.” Ricky grinned leaning back into give EJ another kiss.

They didn’t make it back into the party for a while.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there it is! Happy ending for all! Hope you enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed writing it! Please drop me a comment to share your thoughts! They really do make my day!

**Author's Note:**

> And there's part 1 of 2! Part 2 should be up in a few days! Please let me know what you think! I love hearing your thoughts!


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